The Santa Barbara Foresters’ offense stayed hot with a 13-5 win over the Conejo Oaks on Wednesday at Ventura College.
The Foresters (19-3) have now won four consecutive games and have scored 46 runs in that stretch to remain firmly atop the California Collegiate League South Division standings.
Wednesday’s contest was a tight affair early, as the two sides were knotted up at 0-0 after two innings of play.
However, Santa Barbara erupted for six runs in the top of the third thanks in part to run-scoring hits from Carter Rutenbar (Arkansas), Chris Newstrom (Tennessee) and Luke Cornelison (Arkansas).
The Foresters held onto a comfortable lead for the rest of the night, putting the game out of reach with a four-run eighth inning courtesy of two-run knocks by Wylan Nelson (SBCC) and Newstrom.
Tanner Grove (Cal) struck out six batters in four shutout innings for Santa Barbara, while Joey Wittig (Louisiana Tech), Caleb Hoover (Nebraska) and Lucien Wechsberg (Pepperdine) weathered the storm in the late innings to finish off the win.
Offensively, Newstrom led the way with four RBI and Marcus Gries (TCU) came in to score four times from the leadoff spot in the order.
Newstrom, Gries, Rutenbar, Nelson and Josh Woodworth (Pepperdine) tallied two hits apiece to lead the 13-hit onslaught, while the Foresters also drew seven walks.
Santa Barbara will look to win its fifth straight matchup on the road against the Academy Barons at the MLB Urban Youth Academy at 6:05 p.m.